New Jersey mayor says town has reached capacity, closes it to visitors
So many people were clamoring to get to Belmar, New Jersey, on Sunday, that the mayor stopped all incoming traffic from coming in during the afternoon, saying the small town had reached capacity.
The population is usually about 6,000, but during the summer it soars to more than 60,000, NJ.com reports. Mayor Matt Doherty told NJ Advance Media that he spoke with the police department about the huge number of people packed in the 1.6-square-mile beach town, and they decided Belmar needed to be closed to visitors for safety reasons. Doherty said a "perfect storm of good things" caused the swell in visitors, including the 29th annual seafood festival and beautiful weather. Although visitors were turned away, residents just had to show their license to get around the road closures, and the town reopened for everyone at around 7 p.m.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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